News / Another chance to have your say on Staney Hill plans
ANOTHER public meeting will be held next week to discuss proposals to build around 300 houses at Staney Hill in Lerwick.
The drop-in event will take place at the Staney Hill Hall on Wednesday (29 November) between 4.30pm and 8.30pm to allow the public to have their say on the development.
A draft masterplan for the project has been devised by a design team led by Malcolmson Architects.
Most of the site is expected be developed by Hjaltland Housing Association, while some land will be sold as serviced plots for private developers.
It is hoped the project will go some way to help Lerwick’s housing demand.
Architect Iain Malcolmson said the masterplan isn’t a finalised version of the development, but he added it should give a comprehensive view of how things might eventually look.
“We had an excellent response during the previous consultations and, as far as possible, we’ve taken account of what people told us,” he said.
“Generally, everyone wanted plenty of open space, so a large part of the site will remain as it is now. That’s partly also because we had to avoid disrupting the setting of Clickimin Broch, and of course we didn’t want to propose building where the land is very steep or exceptionally exposed.
“We’ve also done our best to deal with other concerns, including road safety, protection and extension of the tree planting in the area and water run-off from the hill that affects some properties in the neighbourhood.”
Access to the proposed development would come from the new road which connects the Anderson High School to North Lochside.
There will then be a route which will rise up the eastern side of the site and then “then bear westwards towards another access point near Wista”.
It is hoped that the development will split in four distinct areas with their own character.
“We wanted to demonstrate how a really good living environment can be created at Staney Hill,” Malcolmson added.
“The line of the road is pretty much fixed, because of the lie of the land.
“However, the actual layout of housing may well be different, because the designers appointed for each phase of the development will be free to work up their own ideas for each of the four clusters, working within the set of basic principles that the masterplan contains.”
The latest consultation period will run through to 19 January. Following Wednesday’s public event the plans will be available to be viewed at Shetland Islands Council’s planning office and the Shetland Library, in Lerwick.
After this process, the SIC will consider adopting the final masterplan as supplementary guidance – meaning that it will be connected into the isles’ local development plan.
The Staney Hill consultation comes after Edinburgh architects 7N showed off proposals to create around 100 homes on the site of the old Anderson High School at the Knab in Lerwick.
Shetland MSP Tavish Scott, meanwhile, raised concerns over housing provision in the isles after meeting homeless campaigners Shelter Scotland in Edinburgh on Wednesday.
He said there is “simply not enough houses available to people across Shetland”.
Shelter said 119 families in Shetland are currently in temporary accommodation.
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